Yorkshire CCC director of cricket Martyn Moxon has backed fellow Barnsley men Azeem Rafiq and Jack Shutt to fill the void left by England spinner Adil Rashid's decision to play only one day cricket and to help the white rose county to have a successful 2018 campaign.
Yorkshire are due to play their opening 'First Class' match of the season against Leeds Bradford MCCU at Headingley tomorrow before beginning the County Championship a week today against champions Essex at the same ground.
Legspinner Rashid, who has been in the Yorkshire first team for 12 years and represented England in all three formats, has decided to only play 'white ball' Twenty20 and 50-over matches this season, a decision which has 'disappointed' Monk Bretton man Moxon.
Offpinners Rafiq, from Gawber, and Shutt, from Elsecar, are now two of the frontrunners to fill the void left in that department. Moxon – who opened the batting for Barnsley, Yorkshire and England – said: "Adil leaves a gap in the side and it's an opportunity for someone to step in and replace him. Azeem and Jack are definitely two who have the chance to do that."
Rafiq, 27, has played 156 matches for the Tykes in two spells separated by a two-year hiatus when he dropped out of professional sport before returning to Headingley in 2016. The former Holgate School pupil was one of the top wicket-takers in the country in both the One Day Cup and Twenty20 Blast last season, and top for Yorkshire in both, but has struggled for a consistent place in the four-day County Championship side.
Moxon said: "We know Azeem's quality and, at his best, he is an excellent cricketer. I've been really impressed with him since he has come back to the club and we expect him to make a big contribution in all formats this season."
Shutt, 20, is yet to make his first team debut but travelled with the squad on several occasions last season and won the 'Second Team Performance of the Season' award. Moxon said: "Jack has wintered well. He just needs to play now. He will only improve by playing more.
"He did well last season. He has been working a lot on his batting because, in the modern game, even the lower order players need to be able to bat."He is developing nicely and he's an exciting prospect."
After winning the County Championship title in both 2014 and 2015 then just missing out on a hat-trick in 2016 on the final day, Yorkshire finished 100 points behind champions Essex last season and only two above the relegation zone despite being fourth out of eight overall. They also missed out on qualifying for the Twenty20 quarter-finals and were knocked out in the quarters of the 50-over tournament.
Moxon has said that his side's batting let them down last season and – along with coach Andrew Gale and captain Gary Ballance, who also used to play for Barnsley – has made some signings in that department. Yorkshire have brought in India batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara from April until June, while he may return in September, and New Zealand captain Kane Williams from July 13 until September 4. Pujara has 14 Test match centuries and is ranked seventh in the world while fourth-ranked Williamson has 18. Yorkshire have also brought in Australia international fast bowler Billy Stanlake for their Twenty20 campaign.
Moxon said: "Nothing changes – we start the season hoping to win all three trophies as always. We want to play much better cricket in the County Championship and be fighting near the top, not against relegation. We need to improve our batting and that is looking a lot better. Obviously having two of the top seven batters in the world in Cheteshwar and Kane will help a lot but our homegrown players need to step up as well. Our one-day form has been quite good, but it is just a case of winning the really big games and going far in tournaments. Billy Stanlake is a very exciting young bowler and hopefully he will add to our Twenty20 firepower."
Moxon took the squad away to South Africa for a pre-season trip but they have returned to wet English weather which has restricted their pre-season schedule, with a two-day warm-up match in Durham being cancelled this week. He said: "Apart from the weather, it is going well. We had a good trip to South Africa and performed well over there. It's frustrating to be back here battling against wet weather but it's a challenge we have to deal with. We will be ready to hit the ground running this season."
